In Italy The economic and social condition of the family of origin continues to deeply influence people’s future opportunities. To confirm this picture is a recent study of the Future Proof Society In collaboration with the Think Tank Toruguga, entitled “The heavy legacy: wealth and (im) social mobility between generations in Italy”. The research underlines how the country suffers from poor social mobility, a trend that had already been highlighted in the past also by the OECD.
The metaphor of “broken social lift“, Used in previous relationships, effectively describes a reality in which the socio-economic position at birth is highly predictive of that as adults. To this image is added that of the” Flooring floors and ceilings “, which illustrates how, in Italy, it is particularly difficult to improve or worsen your economic condition compared to that of your family of origin.
The causes of inequality
The study identifies different causes behind the phenomenon. The first is the educational system that struggles to fill the cultural and material disparities present in the family contexts departure. The most recent data of the Invalsi tests confirm this difficulty. Another reason is the labor market that presents worrying signs because there is a growth of the so -called poor jobswhile wages have been stopped for years. To this is added a distribution of strongly unbalanced wealth: the richest 10% of the population has 60% of the total wealthwhile the poorest half holds just 7.4%.
Over the past ten years, this inequality has increased. 10% more wealthy increased their share of wealth of 7 percentage pointsdouble the European average. This has occurred despite the overall growth of the assets was lower than other countries, a sign that economic growth in Italy has been limited and distributed in an unequal way.
Young people with less wealth and less opportunities
According to the data of the Bank of Italy resumed in the study, wealth is now mainly held by Over 50which control 75% of the national assets, of which 40% are represented by pensioners. The younger generations, in particular Millennials and generation Z (20-40 years), hold a much lower share of wealth and, compared to the X generation and baby boomers at the same age, have about 50% less of assets.
The difficulties are aggravated by wage stagnation, the high cost of the properties and by the progressive privatization of some public services, such as the Healthcare. Despite the increase in female participation in the labor market, many families struggle to accumulate savings. This strongly limits the possibilities of the new generations: buying a house, facing unexpected expenses, changing jobs by choice or investing in children’s education becomes increasingly difficult.
The node of the inheritance and the proposals of reform
A paradox highlighted by the study concerns the prospect of one of the greatest intergenerational transfers of wealth of recent history: in the next twenty years, beyond 6,400 billion euros they will pass hands between generations. If the current tax regime will not be changed, this risks further amplify the inequalities.
The taxes on inheritance in Italy are among the lowest in Europe. The researchers suggest to intervene by increasing the taxation for the highest assets, for example above the million eurosin line with what happens in countries such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom. According to the authors, a fairer tax system could contribute to rebalancing the disparity between taxation at work and wealth, while providing resources for public investments for the benefit of the entire community.
